Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Man I'm a dork....Saw "The Godfather" for the first time tonight

This is topic Man I'm a dork....Saw "The Godfather" for the first time tonight in forum Film-Yak at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Richard Greco (Member # 2032) on 12-16-2006, 02:11 AM:

I know...I'm 23 and never have seen it. I sat down from 12:00 to 3:00am tonight and watched the whole damn thing. I must say, it is one of the best movies I have EVER seen.

Anyone know how many reels this was? My guess is about 10-12?

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 12-16-2006, 03:55 AM:

It's OK.

Posted by Demetris Thoupis (Member # 833) on 12-16-2006, 06:38 AM:

Godfather trilogy always gives me the creeps! Especially the ending of Part 3. They are all classics. Marlon Brando is unbeatable in the first one and the second and third get better and better. There is a lot of contrantiction about the third one. Some either love it as the best, or hate it as the worst. I love all three and yes I am one of the "love the third part" people!

Posted by Jason Winn (Member # 3568) on 12-16-2006, 11:16 AM:

Well, Richard, I'm glad I'm not the only one. I'm 22 and I have never seen The Godfather. Yeah, I know. I'm living under a rock. I might go rent it sometime, if I feel like it.

Posted by Kenneth Wuepper (Member # 1174) on 12-16-2006, 11:59 AM:

Richard,

How lucky you are! Only seeing it ONCE!

I was the projectionist on opening night and as the 'swing man' out of 5 in the booth. I had the privilege of showing it 254 times. Running it reel to reel we all got to know the changes by heart.

The opening is very different as there are white letter credits on an entirely black screen.

I got a call from the manager to come down to the office for a phone call. The lab was calling everyone to let us know that someone had spliced the 'watermelon girl' color test into the opening credits, thinking it was just blank negative.

When it left our booth after over 1,260 performances, that was the only patch in the entire print.

KEN

Posted by Frank Dubrois (Member # 3042) on 12-16-2006, 12:16 PM:

I've NEVER seen it and I'm over 23...

I can't say that I even want to see it. Seems like a real [sleep]

fest.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 12-16-2006, 12:21 PM:

I'm with Frank on this one. I am 50 and I haven't seen it either. We ran a special showing of it a few years ago (in DTS, even) and I didn't even see it then. It's just not something I care to see. (I have the 4-minute trailer for Part 3 in my collection; I've seen that.)

Posted by Jesse Skeen (Member # 586) on 12-16-2006, 02:45 PM:

I supposedly saw this at a drive-in when I was a few months old. Don't remember a thing though. I've had it on Selectavision disc for over 10 years and last year someone gave me the laserdisc set, but I've never watched them. I keep meaning to watch both the first and second movies together when I have time, but I never get around to it. (Going through the Brady Bunch DVDs instead!)
The LD set has parts I-III, but I heard they added stuff to part III that wasn't in the theatrical release so not sure if I'll ever watch it.

Posted by Aaron Mehocic (Member # 15) on 12-16-2006, 08:44 PM:

My grandmother has a box set of Parts I and II that I'm sure she hasn't watched in about 15 years or so. The films themselves are OK. In truth, I find more Italians enjoy them more so than non-Italians.

quote: Demetris Thoupis
Godfather trilogy always gives me the creeps! Especially the ending of Part 3.

Strange that you say that. I was just thinking about that scene last Tuesday night for no apparant reason whatsoever.

Posted by Cameron Glendinning (Member # 3516) on 12-16-2006, 08:51 PM:

I ran it at an outdoor venue probably 2 years ago, 2000 in the crowd. It was great to finally see this movie as a shared experience, the large audience reactions added so much to a film that I already considered a classic.

Posted by Michael Schaffer (Member # 1204) on 12-16-2006, 09:42 PM:

I doubt that "Italians" enjoy the films more than "non-Italians". These films (at least the orginal parts 1 and 2) are recognized as true classics everywhere.

I think they are timeless masterpieces on many levels, from the storytelling to the acting to technical aspects. Interestingly, "the Godfather" was voted #2 "best shot" movie of the second half of the 20th century a few years ago by American Cinematographer, because of the expressive, eerie lighting and stylish color schemes. (#1 was "Lawrence of Arabia, BTW.)

They are much more than just "Mafia flicks". That's what Paramount originally wanted when they started the production as a low budget project with the then little known Coppola as director because they could find anybody else who wanted to do such an insignificant "gangster movie".

Coppola and Puzo instead gave them an American mythology which incorporated all the classic themes of leaving the "old country" for reasons of economic hardship or persecution and coming to the "new world" with nothing but a name (which then gets changed by the Ellis Island officer), growing up in the "jungle" of the immigration slums and making it to the top by nothing but determination and ruthlessness.

I thought the 3rd part wasn't quite as bad as some found it, but it doesn't quite rise to the level of the original two movies either - part 2 hadn't originally been planned, but the material was already outlined in the book. Still, it has some good elements and it manages to close the circle with Michael Corleone dying rich, old and lonely in the village that his father had fled from, hidden in a basket, many decades before.

Posted by Aaron Mehocic (Member # 15) on 12-16-2006, 10:46 PM:

Well said Michael.

quote: Michael Schaffer
I doubt that "Italians" enjoy the films more than "non-Italians". These films (at least the orginal parts 1 and 2) are recognized as true classics everywhere.

For clarity purposes, the word "Italians" signifies those people of ethnic orgins who haven't figured out that it is now the 21st century and grandpa came here 100 years ago. They know nothing of Italy's history (other than wrong answers about Rome) and /or nothing of the Italian language (other than how to tell somebody to shove something up their ass). Most think gangsters are cool because, hey, after all, their Italian.

No disrespect should be implied to Italian-Americans here unless you think you fall into that catagory.

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 12-16-2006, 10:55 PM:

I like The Godfather and The Godfather Part II a lot. They're not on my short list of favorite movies of all time, but I do admire both a great deal -especially the first movie for all the hell Coppola endured at the hands of Paramount executives while shooting it. He was busting his ass trying to get as much of the film in the can as fast as possible out of fear he was going to be fired at any time. I think it's a miracle the film came together as great as it did.

This is going to sound morbid, but the special effect where Mo Green gets shot in the eye has to be one of the best all time gore effects in movie history. I'm still at a loss on how they put together that effect. Actor Alex Rocco flinched from being startled by that charge going off in the eye glass lens. And that made the effect even more real looking.

I really wanted to like The Godfather Part III (Paramount even struck a bunch of 70mm prints for the release), but the movie just couldn't really get its legs under it. And there was a noticeable "been there, done that" feel to it as well. Sophia Coppola's lifeless acting marred a few scenes. Her talents are far more formidable in directing. The worst moment is the death of Michael Corleone at the end. It just looked ridiculous when Pacino fell out of that chair. Was I supposed to laugh at that?

Goodfellas probably helped amplify the negative feelings critics had for The Godfather Part III. Scorsese's film was still playing in some theaters at Christmas of 1990. Goodfellas set a new gold standard for mob movies and I think it obviously served as a template for HBO's highly successful Sopranos series.

If you like mob movies the DVD box set of The Godfather films is definitely worth adding to the collection. But I think the 2-disc special edition of Goodfellas needs to come along for the ride. Casino is an honorable mention. I like Scarface, but it is shamelessly operatic and as shamelessly 1980's as a Miami Vice TV episode.

Posted by Will Kutler (Member # 770) on 12-17-2006, 12:10 AM:

Jackie Mason had a great joke that he used on the "Borscht Belt"

"How could the Italians have ever concocted something like the Mafia without the Jews to show them how? Meyer Lansky...he was their Henry Kissinger!!"

And as Robert Lacey pointed out in his biography of Lansky "Little Man", shortly after the release of GFII actor Lee Strasberg recieved a personal phone call from Lansky complementating him on his performance. After all, both men came from the same neighborhood during the same time period.

And it was Rabbi Judah L. Magnes and the Kehilliah that first documented crime and vice on New Yorks Lower East Side, coining some of the "slang terms" still popular today.

Interestingly, Jewish mobsters, who were closly associated with the Italian Mafia, were probably more violent than both the Italians and Irish put together!

But actually, all ethenic groups have had their organized crime gangs. And as for organzied crime in America, lest we forget that the Irish were there long before the Jews and Italians.

Anyhow, back to the Godfather triology. The 1st film closly follows the book, but there are differences and omissions. THe book has a definate ending. GF Part II does a good job of explaining Vito's early life, but that is the only similarity to the book. Pat III has nothing to do with the book at all. One thing about part III that most people have agreed on: Sophia Copolla just about ruins the film.

K

Posted by Mike Heenan (Member # 392) on 12-17-2006, 12:44 AM:

And Russian mobsters make Jewish mobsters look like a bunch of pansies. [Razz]

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 12-17-2006, 04:05 AM:

Hmm, let's see .. I was running "the Godfather" that summer of 1972 in my first hardtop that I was doing part-time in and doing the drive-in that night. How I got the hardtop job simply due to that I was of legal age and the matinee booth people were just high school kids and they were temporarilly suspended from the booth until that "R" rated movie left. Thus, I picked up a wad of great hours and extra moolah-in as well getting my foot in the door to this theatre to where 4 yrs later, that theatre was mine for the next 9 yrs..

That movie ALMOST was the beginning of the "Summer Blockbuster", but who heard of that concept of saturating the market with prints then (until JAWS came out 3 yrs later..)

11 reels long of good ol IB Technicolor, making wet splices when we added a couple of trailers to the front of the first reel, and being worth the movie for Best Picture that year. Just too bad that Marlin Brando had to be a jerk and rejected the award for Best Actor..

Posted by Demetris Thoupis (Member # 833) on 12-17-2006, 05:07 AM:

Can you still find a 35mm print for the Godfather films? That would be a thrill! Did you know that Paramount did not want Al Pacino to play Michael Corleone? He was not "too convincing" in some pre-takes when they actually had to choose the actor. Anyway I think all 3 films are magnificent pieces of art.

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 12-17-2006, 10:38 AM:

Some of those 35mm DTS prints from the 25th anniversary release (in 1997) might be floating around. The prints from the 1972 release would probably be very rare.

Posted by Mike Heenan (Member # 392) on 12-17-2006, 01:02 PM:

There are original prints around I think. I read that a few years ago Robert Evans screening room burned down due to faulty wiring, and most if not all his film collection went up in flames, so most likely his own prints of the movies are gone. On the Kid Stays in the Picture dvd promotion, he noted that because of the DVD and the movie, some of his rarer films were preserved (on tape at least) like his pitch to Paramount, and some of Dustin Hoffmans outtakes from Marathon Man.